After Utah lost to BYU 22-21, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan did something highly unusual for an athletic director. He went to the podium to talk to the media and blasted the refs.
Harlan said, “I’ve been an athletic director for 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game, someone else stole it from us. I’m very disappointed, I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in over a decade covering the Big 12 Conference.
First off, Utah led this game 21-10 at halftime. The Utes were held to no points, 79 yards and four first downs in the second half. Utah’s inept second half offense, combined with BYU’s defensive adjustments, are what ultimately resulted in BYU winning this game. Utah needed one field goal over 30 minutes, and we aren’t having this conversation. And they couldn’t do it.
Now are Big 12 refs notorious for questionable calls in big spots? Sure. How different is it from the other conferences? I can’t speak to that, because I spent 95% of my time watching the Big 12. But to look back on this game and blame it exclusively on the officiating is completely ridiculous.
Even after that supposed “bad call”, BYU marched 55 yards down the field to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired.
What Led to the Comments?
The play in most question came on a 4th and long on the game-winning drive by BYU, where Utah was hit with a holding call, rather than a Utah sack on quarterback Jake Retzlaff, which would have ended the game and given Utah the upset victory.
You can review it yourself, but it seemed pretty clear to me it was holding. The broadcasting crew didn’t even flinch as to whether or not it was holding. And if your opinion is, “You don’t make that call in that spot”, I disagree. None of us like tick-tack calls, but my initial reaction upon seeing that was not to jump up and down and scream that that call was awful and was the reason Utah lost.
Picking Sides in the Holy War?
To be clear, I am not picking sides in the Holy War.
I love and welcome this rivalry to the Big 12. It’s right up there with Kansas vs. Kansas State, Baylor vs. TCU and K-State vs. Iowa State (can we protect that one already, commish?) as the best of the best in the conference right now.
In my preseason prediction, I picked Utah to win the Big 12 Conference this season (over UCF, what a bad job by me). I have been on Utah podcasts, met many Utah fans on our Big 12 forums, and defended some of the bad rap the fan base has received because of a few big-mouth knuckle draggers on social media. And I will continue to do that. The majority of fans I’ve spoken with appreciate the Big 12, have enjoyed it, and are glad to be a part of it.
But none of that excuses the sour grapes attitude of the athletic director to blame an entire game on the refs, complain about your new conference and blast everyone around you.
I will give Mark Harlan this much, when he said, “This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
He almost got that line right. Pot, meet kettle. His actions were not fair to his team. And he should be disgusted by his own professionalism, at least as much as the officiating crew.
